Journey back in time held Sunday aboard a Norwalk trolley

Published 4:31 pm, Sunday, September 15, 2013

NORWALK -- With ragtime music playing softly in the background, men and women decked out in their finest 19th-century garb boarded an old-fashioned trolley car on Wall Street.

The scene attracted plenty of onlookers as dozens of other passengers joined the group Sunday afternoon to take a journey back in time as part of the third annual Norwalk Living History Tour.

Presented by the Norwalk Preservation Trust, the event traversed Norwalk's former trolley routes, which were in existence from the 1860s to the 1930s.

"We wanted to show people what a typical experience would be like when Norwalkers rode trolleys," said Tod Bryant, president of the Norwalk Preservation Trust and acting trolley conductor on the tour. "If you couldn't walk to where you worked during that time, this was the way to go. They were the lifeline of the city."

Two trolleys followed each other throughout the journey, where guests explored various historic sites, including buildings in SoNo and Rowayton.

Former City Historian Ralph Bloom guided one of the trolleys with Bryant on the other. Both commented on both the lost and existing architectural heritage of the city.

Pictures of some of the city's history were provided for tour goers so they could envision how the streets used to look.

"West Avenue used to be a great boulevard of beautiful homes," Bloom said as he gazed out of the trolley windows. "Now, there is barely a house left on the street."

Along the way, the trolleys stopped at several locations, where actors in period costumes brought the history of Norwalk in the streetcar era to life.

The first stop was at the Farm Creek Nature Preserve, where Lisa Wilson Grant, chairwoman of the Roton Point History Committee, stood atop a stone wall in a flowing white dress as she addressed the landscape.

"There used to be a large, castle-like mansion here called Castle Venice and the trolley would ride alongside it, hugging the ravine across the area into Roton Point," Grant said. "The mansion burned down in 1980, but the barn that went along with the house still remains on the property."

The tour continued on to Roton Point, where guests were treated to a performance by barbershop quartet, Coastal Chordsmen, before heading over to three additional historical spots.

"The tour has been wildly successful both this year and in previous years," Bryant said.

"We sold out right away for the trolley tour and ended up having to get two trolleys because it was so popular."

Previous tours included Norwalk's 19th century rural communities and historic homes from 1675 to 1830.